GUNMAN OPENS FIRE IN CHURCH, KILLING 7

A gunman walked into a sanctuary full of young people at a Baptist church Wednesday evening and began firing, fatally shooting eight people, including himself, officials said.

The shooting occurred at Wedgwood Baptist Church during a rally that attracted hundreds of teenagers from several area churches.

Six of the victims and the gunman apparently were dead at the scene; the eighth person died of injuries at a hospital. Police said three adults and three teens were among the victims.

Seven people with gunshot wounds were taken to hospitals, with several in critical condition, said Lt. David Ellis of the Ft. Worth Police Department.

"He hits the door real hard to make his presence known and he just immediately started firing," Dax Hughes, the church's college minister, said of the gunman.

Police said they did not have a motive for the shooting. They believed the man, who fired a large-caliber handgun, was in his 20s or 30s, but they did not know his identity. Church members said they did not recognize the man.

When the gunman entered the church, some teens thought it was a skit, witnesses said. But members of Forty Days, the band playing at the event, reportedly started ducking behind amplifiers.

Initial reports also indicated that a pipe bomb might have exploded, sending shrapnel all the way into the balcony. A police bomb squad was at the scene.

About 150 young people were inside the sanctuary for the annual "See You at the Pole" gathering, where students affirm their faith and concern for the problems of society by holding prayer time around their school's flagpole. The student-led prayer meeting is part of a national effort to establish prayer groups at public secondary schools.

"He was very calm and looked normal and was smoking a cigarette," witness Christy Martin told KDFW-TV. She said the man had long hair and wore a mustache.

Chris Applegate, a 7th grader, said he was in choir practice when the gunman burst into the room.

"We were singing a song and then in the middle of the song this guy opened the door and fired one shot," he said. "He just kept telling us to stay still."

"We all just jumped under the benches and he fired about 10 more shots. . . . Somebody said, `Run, run,' and we all started running," Chris said.

The man reloaded several times during the rampage.

When the gunfire was over, Hughes said, the man "sat in the back pew and put a gun (to his head) and shot himself and fell over."

"There's cartridges, shrapnel and empty cart(ridge) boxes and blood splattered all over the wall," said Lt. David Ellis, a police spokesman. .

The gunman was wearing a black leather jacket, bluejeans and a bandanna when he walked into the church.

An off-duty police officer who lives near the church heard the shots and called 911.

One man was reportedly taken into custody for questioning, but police did not say why.

Kristen Dickens, 14, said she was sitting in the second pew in the sanctuary when the gunman entered through the rear.

"We had just finished singing and we were praying when he came in," Dickens said.

"We thought it was a joke," Dickens said. "We were singing, and he told us to shut up."

The gunman then began shooting in different directions.

"I thought it was our pastor playing a joke on us. But then Cassie got hit in the throat. She never got up," Dickens said, referring to a victim whose full identity was unavailable.

Kevin Rutledge and his wife, Sundi, both 22, were in the fellowship hall attending a prayer meeting when they heard a commotion elsewhere in the church.

A woman in the lobby of John Peter Smith Hospital, her clothes splattered with blood, said her daughter, Heather MacDonald, 17, was saved by her best friend, who was sitting next to her.

As the gunman approached, the woman said, her daughter's friend "laid on top of my daughter to protect her, and she got shot."

The injured teenager, believed to be 17, was not immediately identified.

Steve Brown said his wife, Jaynanne, was grazed in the head. His wife was supposed to pick him up from work last night but decided to take their children to a prayer meeting and concert at the church, Brown said.

He said his wife was taken to Harris Methodist Hospital but that his children were all right.

"I thank the Lord somebody protected her," Brown said. "But it's just a shame you can't go to church without something like this happening."

The large, red brick church sits in an older neighborhood of modest brick homes. After the shooting, helicopters buzzed overhead and neighbors crowded the sidewalks, watching the chaotic scene as a police bomb squad searched the church.